Eh?
by FanNotANerd
Summary: Ah, the tropics. Sun, sand and all the fruity cocktails your liver can handle. Too bad you don't get any of that in the frozen north. Somepony screwed up. The mane six are now taking their vacation in Caneighda.


**Disclaimer: Yes, I use a lot of Canadian stereotypes in this story. On the other hand, I'm Canadian myself, which makes me immune to any flak you might shoot at me. Shut up and laugh.**

The airplane bucked violently, sending one of Twilight's heavier books out of the overhead compartment and across the cabin.

It missed Rarity's head by mere inches and slammed into the bulkhead, jerking the alabaster unicorn from her fitful sleep. She grimaced and focused bleary eyes on the object that had nearly taken her head off: a collection of essays written by Ptrotemy.

Rarity let out a wild growl and seized the tome with a strand of magic, and roughly crammed it back into the overhead compartment. She then turned to the books owner, who was sleeping peacefully three seats over. A pen telekinetically flung across the cabin quickly rectified that problem.

Twilight snorted as the writing utensil bounced off her skull and looked up, mumbling some sort of scientific gibberish. Then, it occurred to her that she was not, after all, in a classroom, and turned to look at the culprit. "Was there really a reason for that?"

"Yes," Rarity growled. "One of your books fell out of the compartment, and nearly hit me! Do you have any idea how much a bruise clashes with my outfits?"

Twilight yawned. "Sorry," she mumbled, having only understood enough to interpret it as a reprimand.

"Don't apologize," Rarity snapped. "Go to your bags and secure those books! It's hard enough trying to sleep without this mechanical monstrosity bucking about like some-"

The plane chose that exact moment to encounter another patch of turbulence. Rarity's complaint was cut off as her head slammed against the bulkhead, knocking the world out of focus for a moment.

"Would it really be so difficult to fly straight?" she yelled to nopony in particular. A loud snore from Rainbow Dash was her only response.

Rarity pouted, and slumped back into the uncomfortable airline seat. _I only hope the beach is worth it…_

**Roughly nineteen hours ago…**

Twilight frowned at the scroll in front of her. "Well," she said. "This…is unexpected."

"What's it say?" Spike asked, having belched the letter out in a tongue of flame not moments before. "How 'come I never get to read these things?"

"It's not what the letter says," Twilight said, shaking her head. "It's what's included! The princess is sending all six of us down south for, as she put it, 'some well overdue relaxation.' I'm not objecting, but…"

Spike grinned. "Down south? Like…how far down south? Tropics south?"

Twilight held her face carefully neutral and rolled up the scroll, and the six tickets tucked inside. The dragon's face fell. "Not tropics south?"

The unicorn allowed a wide grin to split her face. "I'm going to have to see Rarity about a swimsuit."

"Aww, yeah!" Spike yelled, punching the air. "Awesome! Just in time, too. I'm getting sick of winter."

"We all are, Spike," Twilight said, glancing at the thermometer and shaking her head. Three degrees. _That's Ponyville for you._

"I have to find the girls and tell them the good news," Twilight said.

"All right!" Spike replied. "I'll get started packing. What do you think I should take?"

Twilight's smile cracked. "Well…we were only given six tickets."

"Yeah?" Spike said. "So?" A moment later, he finally thought to do the math, and his face fell right off his head and shattered on the floor. "But…"

"It's not because we don't want to take you," Twilight said quietly. "It's because we _can't._ Celestia said in the letter that they wouldn't allow a dragon, baby or not, on the plane."

"That's stupid," Spike grunted, kicking at the floor.

"Cheer up," Twilight said, forcing a grin. "You've got the library to yourself for a week. No bedtime, no research…"

Even the prospect of a week's worth of freedom didn't lift the dragon's mood.

"I'm sorry," the unicorn said. "If there was anything I could do…"

Spike forced a smile. "I'm over it. Is there anything you want me to pack?"

"Spike, I can-"

"You mentioned that Ptrotemaic essay collection…"

Twilight sighed. "Yes. If you could pack that, it'd be great."

XXX

"My, my," Rarity said, admiring the ticket. "The princess is certainly in a generous mood today."

"Generous?" Rainbow Dash scoffed, flitting through the air in her excitement. "That's an understatement. D'you have any idea what it costs to fly anywhere?"

Rarity frowned. "Well…I'm not particularly knowledgeable about this flight thing, but I can imagine…"

"I showed you the hangar in Cloudsdale, remember? They were building some kind of flying thing? Powered by unicorn magic and everything. Well, that's what we're taking. It's the first of its kind!"

Applejack cast her pegasus friend a sidelong look. "If Ah didn't know better, you're more excited 'bout flying on that thing than goin' down south."

Dash waved a hoof dismissively. "Okay, sure. I mean the tropics are cool and all. Lots of updrafts, volcanoes and all that…but this plane is the first of its kind! I don't even know how Celestia herself got tickets on it!"

Twilight allowed herself a small smile. "So…I take it you're in?"

She was met by a chorus of agreement from her five friends, although Applejack's was a tad more subdued.

Twilight frowned. "Something wrong, Applejack?"

Applejack chuckled and scratched on the floor with a hoof. "Uh, RD? D'you reckon that…this plane thing…will it move around a whole lot?"

"Well…there's turbulence and all that, and flying things tend to wobble a bit…well, not me, obviously, but…"

"Ponyfeathers," Applejack moaned.

"What's the problem?" Dash started. Then it suddenly occurred to her, and she winced in sympathy. "Oh, yeah. That."

"What's 'that?'" Twilight asked.

Applejack looked away, blushing slightly. "Well…me an' things that buck around a bunch…we don't really mix."

"I took her on a roller coaster once, a few years before you got here," Dash said, wincing at the memory. "She was puking her guts out after the first drop. Took me forever to get in out of my mane."

Rarity shuddered. "Did we _really_ need to know that?"

Pinkie Pie cocked her head, confused. "What? You get sick on roller coasters? But that doesn't make sense. Roller coasters are supposed to be fun, and getting sick's no fun at all, so how can you get sick while having fun? Unless…" She gasped. "You're _allergic_ to fun? That's terrible! How can you-"

"Pinkie!" Twilight snapped. "She's not allergic to fun! It's motion sickness!"

"Oooohhh…" the pink earth pony said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So," Rarity said, in an obvious attempt to change the topic. "Has Spike packed his things yet? I imagine we'd want to get to Cloudsdale early, and Pinkie's balloon takes a while to inflate…"

Now it was Twilight's turn to wince. "Uh…Spike's not coming. They…wouldn't let him on the plane."

Rarity's hoof flew to her mouth. "Oh, the poor dear! He'll be alone for a week!"

"I know, but there's nothing we can do. Now, we _are_ running on a tight schedule here, so Pinkie, could you get your balloon ready? The rest of you run home and pack. Meet back here in about half an hour."

There was another chorus of "Sure's," "All right's" and one "Okie-dokie-lokie," and the five ponies filed out the door, several actually quivering in anticipation. It looked like Twilight wasn't the only one sick of the cold winter temperatures.

XXX

Rainbow Dash snuck a concerned glance at Applejack over the seats behind her. The earth pony was still sleeping soundly, even as the plane bucked around her.

The cyan pegasus leaned back into her seat, sighing in relief. As much as she hated having to punch her friend's lights out, it was better than having her retching the entire time. Unconsciousness, at least by her knowledge, was the best cure for nausea. Hopefully, she wouldn't remember what had happened, or wonder what the source of the bruise on her chin was.

She took a quick glance around the plane, absently noticing that she was the only one still awake. Even Rarity had managed to get back to sleep, something that never ceased to astound her. How such an uptight pony could ever relax enough to sleep simply boggled the mind.

Dash jumped slightly as the plane tilted toward the ground. The pitch of the propellers outside changed as well, becoming deeper and throatier. Her friends began to wake, their slumber disturbed by the change in pitch. Applejack, fortunately, remained unconscious.

The pegasus snuck another worried glance at her friend. _Maybe I hit her too hard…_

Pinkie, of course, leapt straight awake in a moment. "Ooh, is Applejack still asleep?" she said. "That might make things tricky. She's got all the snacks!"

Twilight yawned and shook her head. "Well, we're almost there. We're descending, right?"

Dash glanced out the window and did some rapid calculations in her head. Not that she would ever admit doing that kind of thing. "I'm guessing we'll be on the ground in twenty minutes or so. Maybe we can try waking Applejack up before then."

"I could've just put her to sleep with a spell," Twilight reminded her.

Dash shrugged. "Yeah, well…let's call it payback for cleaning me out at our last poker night."

The lavender unicorn sighed, sparking her horn to life. "Well, at least let me wake her up before you decide to do it your way."

"A bit of ice water never hurt anypony…"

Twilight ignored her and focused the spell on Applejack, releasing it with a flash of light.

The earth pony stirred, and lifted her head off the seat. "What…" she mumbled. "We're…still on the plane?"

"We'll be landing in a few minutes," Twilight said. "Just relax. You've been out this whole time."

Applejack glanced at Rainbow Dash, her eyes narrowing. Her hoof drifted up and rubbed a sore spot on her jaw. "You hit me."

Dash shrugged. "Had to knock you our somehow."

"You coulda had Twilight cast a spell, or something."

The plane suddenly jerked, and her face immediately lost most of its colour. A moment later, she was retching into a sickbag, while the others backed off nervously. "Why the hay didn't you wait until we'd landed?" Applejack moaned, wiping her mouth.

Twilight winced. "I…didn't think of that."

"Hey, look on the bright side," Dash said. "When you're not puking, you can get a pegasus-eye view of the Mareibbean!"

"Great," Applejack muttered, swallowing.

"Hey! Everypony!" Pinkie exclaimed. "We're passing through the clouds! We'll be able to see the ground soon!"

The six friends immediately crowded around the windows, eyes sparkling in anticipation. For a long moment, all the could see were thick, obscuring clouds…then the plane suddenly emerged, lending them an unobstructed view of the landscape.

"It's so beau-" Rarity started. She cut off halfway through her sentence, jaw dropping halfway to the floor. Then she rubbed her eyes, as if they were playing some cruel prank on her.

But they weren't. The others were wearing similar expressions of shock and dismay. "Please tell me this is some kind of joke," Rainbow Dash whimpered.

Instead of a lush tropical paradise, they gazed out on a frozen expanse of snow and ice, broken occasionally by thick, untamed forest. "This can't be right," Rarity said, her fantasies of sunning on the beach melting away. "I'm dreaming, aren't I? Somepony please pinch me, and wake me up from this nightmare."

Dash rolled her eyes and smacked her hindquarters with a hoof, making the unicorn yelp in pain and surprise. "You're not dreaming. Somepony screwed up."

"Um…" Fluttershy said quietly. "We should probably…get back to the seats. Just…we're landing, so…"

"Good point," Dash said. "All right, back to the seats. The landing could be rough. We'll worry about where we are later, okay?"

A sudden scuffling sound broke out from one of the overhead compartments. "We're here?" a voice said. "Awesome!"

Twilight looked up. "What the-"

Spike forced his head out of the bag and grinned at her. "What? You thought I'd actually stay behind?"

"I thought that bag was heavy," Twilight said, chuckling. "Well, there's nothing to be done about it now."

The baby dragon dropped down and stretched. "Ah, man. That feels good. So, what were you saying about someone messing up?"

"Take a look out the window," Dash said, buckling herself into her seat.

Spike's eyes widened. "It's a horde of zombie ponies, isn't it? I knew it would happen some day! All right, we can still stop this. Twilight, I need a crowbar and a machete-"

"There's no zombie ponies, Spike," Twilight sighed. "You've got to stop reading those books. Anyway, well…we're not in the Mareibbean."

Spike frowned, and stretched up to the window. "We're not? Then where-"

He froze as he saw the snow-covered ground a few hundred metres below the plane. "Snow?" he said weakly.

Twilight quickly seized him with her magic as the plane touched down with a gentle bump. Thankfully, the landing was a gentle one. Spike kept staring out the window the entire time, lost for words.

"I feel sick," he finally announced when Twilight put him down.

The unicorn walked over and gently patted his back. "Just keep breathing. It'll all be-"

Spike's cheeks bulged, and he belched out a tongue of green flame, which morphed into a closed scroll. Twilight immediately forgot about the dragon's nausea and grabbed the letter, reading it quickly.

_Dear Twilight,_ it read.

_I have no guarantee that this will reach you, but knowing Spike, he probably smuggled himself into your luggage._

_I must apologize, but there's been a terrible mix-up. I have no idea who is responsible, but you've somehow been sent north instead of south, to Caneighda._

"Caneighda?" Twilight squeaked. She'd never been there, but had heard enough tales of the frozen wasteland to deter her from ever considering it.

_I've arranged for you and your friends to stay with the Maples, who run a sap farm not far from where you landed. They know to expect you, and have prepared accommodations. However, they agreed to do so only on the condition that you help on the farm for the duration of your stay. _

_Rest assured, I will firmly discipline whoever is responsible for this. Unfortunately, the Cloudsdale Air Authority has denied my request to fly you straight where you should be until the next flight comes in, which won't be for another week._

_Please be patient. While cold, this country holds many wonders of its own._

_Princess Celestia._

Twilight flung the letter down in disgust. "Caneighda," she spat. "Who was the genius who sent us here?"

Pinkie Pie perked up. "Caneighda? That's where we are? Don't they make maple syrup here?"

Twilight sighed. "Yes, Pinkie Pie. They're known for it. They're also known for being ridiculously cold."

"Well, duh!" Pinkie exclaimed, pointing out the window. "I mean, you can't have this much snow if it's warm! How silly would that be?"

Everypony with the exception of Pinkie Pie jumped when a beige earth pony flung the airplane door wide and poked his head in, a wide smile plastered on his face. "Good morning! Welcome to Caneighda! Bit colder than what you're used to, eh?"

Twilight frowned, taking in his wide-brimmed hat and red jacket. "Who are you?"

The pony stood proudly to attention. "Officer Border Check of the Royal Caneighdian Mounted Police, at your service! But you can just call me Check, eh?"

He gestured outside. "Don't be shy! Our proud nation awaits!"

Spike took a few steps closer, grinning. "A Mountie? I've heard of you guys! Is that hat actually part of the uniform?"

Check's grin slipped slightly. "Yes it is. Could one of you please tell me what a baby dragon's doing on the plane? Could set the thing on fire, eh?"

"He smuggled himself in my luggage," Twilight explained. "I'm just as surprised as you."

Check's grin returned just a quickly. "Well, nothing to be done about it, eh?"

"Just like there's nothing to be done about being stuck here," Rarity said icily.

The Mountie paused for a moment. "Wait. You're that lot who's not supposed to be here! Probably expecting some Mareibbean resort, eh? Well don't worry. The Maples already arrived with a carriage. Really nice folk. You'll like them, eh?"

Twilight shivered. The door had been open for some time now, and the cabin temperature was dropping rapidly. "Excellent. Let's go."

The moment she stepped outside, she instantly regretted her zeal. "How cold is it?" she managed through chattering teeth. _I didn't even think it was possible to get this cold!_

"It's fifteen below," Check said, seemingly unfazed by the chill.

Twilight gaped. "Fifteen below? As in fifteen below zero? As in two-hundred fifty-eight Kelvin?"

"It's cold. I get it. But to be honest, this is nothing. A month ago, if you spat somewhere, it'd freeze before it hit the ground!"

A claw of despair tightened around Twilight's heart. _What've we gotten ourselves into?_

Rarity sighed in delight as she walked into a thankfully well-heated building. "Am I the only one who expected an igloo?" she joked. Although, to be honest, the runway terminal looked more like a cottage or cabin than anything else.

"An igloo?" Border Check scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Maybe a bit farther north, but here? Only ones I see here are the ones my daughter builds in the backyard, eh?"

The alabaster unicorn paused. "Well…forgive my ignorance, but where exactly is 'here?'"

"'Here' is Caneighda!" Check replied jovially. "There's not a whole lot around here. Just wilderness, and the occasional sap farm."

A moment later, he burst out laughing. "Oh, the look on your face. I wish I had a mirror, eh? No, we're about twenty kilometers out from Trotonto. We mostly use this runway for pegasus deliveries, things like that. We didn't expect one of those plane things!"

"Hey, Check!" a unicorn called from a side room, a bottle of beer hovering beside him. "The game's on! Caneighdiens versus the Leafs!"

The Mountie grinned. "You kidding me? They might as well call the game right off the bat! The Leafs don't have a chance!"

"You keep thinking that, eh?"

Rarity frowned. "I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?"

"Hockey," Check responded, straining to listen to the radio commentary. "Uh…you mares can handle yourselves, eh? The Maples should be waiting outside."

Rarity sighed and left him to the hockey game, and found the others huddling close to a woodstove, sucking in a much heat as they could. "Well, Check seems to have been distracted by a hockey game. The Maples are waiting outside, apparently."

Spike blinked sluggishly. "I…hate…being…cold…blooded…" He then punctuated his words by leaning even closer to the iron woodstove.

Twilight backed away, some feeling having returned to her body. "Well, we wouldn't want to keep them waiting, eh?"

She frowned. "Oh, Celestia. I'm starting to sound like them."

"Run!" Dash yelled over-dramatically. "They'll assimilate us all! Resistance is futile!"

"Sugarcube, Ah mean this in the nicest possible way...but shut up. Ah don't want to insult these people."

"Imagine?" Dash scoffed, taking to the air and folding her forelegs across her chest. "Did you see that guy? I don't think he could be insulted by anything! They're so easygoing here it's scary!"

Applejack sighed and massaged some feeling into her limbs. Pinkie seemed to be the only one not affected by the cold, and was currently scouring the cabin for maple syrup.

"Well, Ah'm warmed up. What say we meet these Maple folk?"

"One…minute…" Spike managed, physically wrapping his arms around the woodstove. Luckily, he was fireproof; otherwise the results could have been very interesting indeed.

Twilight allowed him thirty seconds before yanking him away. "Let's go. Something tells me that the Maples don't want to stay out in the cold any longer than we do."

"No," Dash muttered. "They'd probably get off on it."

"Really, Rainbow, that's going too far," Rarity said.

"I…actually kind of like it here," Fluttershy said quietly. "It's so peaceful and nice…"

A door at the other end of the building opened, and a brawny earth pony strode in, shaking snow out of his black mane. A few stray snowflakes remained unnoticed on his brown coat. "Hey, Check!" he called. "Are those ponies here yet? It's been-"

He cut off and his face brightened when he saw the six ponies (and baby dragon) still clustered around the woodstove. "There you are! Always nice to see new faces. I'm Sap Bucket. Sap to my friends. Your princess sent me a message saying you needed a place to stay, eh?"

"Well…yes," Twilight said. Was everypony in this country this friendly? Based on the three natives she'd met, it would seem so. "My name is-"

"Twilight Sparkle, the princess' personal protégé!" Sap finished. "I heard about the work you and your friends have done. Bet Discord was a bit of fun, eh?"

"You could say that," Rainbow Dash said, landing on the floor.

"Really?" Pinkie Pie piped up. "You actually agree now? I thought I was the only one who liked it, you know, because of the chocolate rain and all, but it's so cool to know that you like it too, and-"

"I was being sarcastic!" Dash snapped. "Honestly, Pinkie! Could you not jump in every time somepony says something?"

The pink earth pony pouted. "Well, that's not very nice. You could learn something from these people!"

"I'll pass," Dash snarled. "All I care about is getting to the Mareibbean. I'll fly there myself if I have to."

Twilight grinned nervously at Sap. "One moment, please." Then she grabbed the cyan pegasus in her magic and slipped into a side room.

"What's your problem?" she hissed. "These ponies are being nothing but friendly. The least you could do is be a little bit less biting!"

"Yeah, well, you don't like it, that's too bad."

"Look," Twilight said. "I know you don't like this. But there's nothing we can do about it! Somepony made a mistake. Simple as that. Look, even Rarity's taking it better than you are!"

"I know there's nothing we can do about it," Dash spat, pushing the unicorn away. "That's what I don't like."

Twilight frowned as the pegasus stormed past her. _What'd she mean by that? If there's nothing you can do, there's nothing you can do._

"The other couldn't make it," Sap was saying as Twilight and Rainbow walked back out. "They're back home getting your accommodations set up. Bet you'll like them, eh?"

He eyed the two. "Oh, you're back. Work out your issues?"

"Yeah," Dash said gruffly. "Sorry about that. What'd I miss?"

"Not a lot," Sap replied. "Come on. We've got a ways to go until we get to the farm. Might have to take turns pulling, eh?"

Sap winked at her. "I hate to break it to you, beautiful, but you're in Caneighda in the middle of winter. It gets cold here. Only thing you can do is learn to live with it, eh?"

"That won't be necessary," Twilight said. "I've gotten a lot better at that come-to-life spell."

Applejack gave her a worried look. "Uh…sugarcube? You sure that's a good idea?"

"Well, we're supposed to help out. I might as well start now. Besides, I'm a lot better at magic than I was then."

"What're you planning?" Sap asked.

"Don't worry," Twilight assured him. "It'll work."

XXX

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, brushing snow out of her mane. "That really worked, didn't it?"

"You couldn't have done any better," Applejack replied, retrieving her hat from a nearby pine tree.

Twilight fished Spike out of the snow, apologizing profusely to Sap. "I'm so sorry. I thought I had control over it, I really did."

"Don't worry," the earth pony replied, grinning. "The wagon's not too badly damaged, and that was probably the most fun I've had all week. Just…please don't try that again. Might actually do some damage, eh?"

"Fluttershy, dear," Rarity called. "You can come out of that tree now. It's perfectly safe."

"I think some of the bits are still moving…"

"Oh, that's just your imagination! The magic should have worn off long ago. Besides, are you sure you want to stay in that tree? You could fall, after all."

The yellow pegasus squeaked in fear and quickly flitted down from her perch, alighting on the ground. "If it counts, Twilight…you held on for a lot longer than last time."

The unicorn frowned. "Thanks, Fluttershy. But I obviously need a lot more practice. Rarity, do you mind giving me a hand with this? The least I can do is take the wagon back to the farm."

"Of course," the alabaster unicorn replied, focusing her magic on the wagon. A moment later, Twilight's magic merged with hers, lifting the wagon off the ground.

It took an uncomfortable fifteen minutes to make it over the hill and to the farm, all the while through blinding snow that continued to drift around their hooves. Finally, they were at the door of a large log house, smoke spiraling cheerily from the chimney.

_A log cabin? _Rarity thought. _How tacky! I'll bet he built it himself._

"How charming!" she said, with a forced grin. "Did you build it yourself?"

Sap shook his head. "Nope. That's my dad you're thinking of. I was just a young colt at the time. He had me hammering nails into scrap wood. Good memories, eh?"

Rarity shrugged. _Well, close enough._ "Will we be…staying in there?"

"Oh, no. We don't have the room."

_Oh, thank Celestia…_

"So the wife and foals are building a few igloos out back!"

Rarity's jaw dropped. _Did he really just say…igloos?_

"Igloos?" Twilight echoed. "I didn't actually think that was-"

"The foals make them all the time during the winter. We've actually slept in them once or twice."

Sure enough, as they walked behind the house, they saw several domes of snow rising from the ground. A pair of earth ponies were just lifting the last block of snow into place, while a young filly stuffed loose snow into the cracks.

"Meet my family," Sap said proudly. He pointed toward a pale yellow earth pony off to the side, a maple leaf emblazoned on her flank. "My wife, Sugar Maple. The colt over there is my boy Red Maple, and the mare's Leaf. The filly's Maple Bud. She doesn't have her cutie mark yet, but she's not letting that stop her. Trying all sorts of crazy things, eh?"

Rainbow Dash frowned. "Is it just me," she whispered to Applejack. "Or is this scarily similar to-"

Applejack quickly shushed her, having come to the same conclusion herself.

Red Maple stretched and walked over, grinning widely. "Hey! You're new to Caneighda, right? The cold getting to you yet?"

"A little," Twilight replied. "Spike here's got the worst of it."

Red glanced at the baby dragon, eyes lighting up. "Hey, a baby dragon! I've never seen one before. They don't like to come up here, because of the cold. They're cold-blooded, right?"

"Yes," Twilight said, bewildered. "How'd you-"

The red earth pony grinned. "Well, it's cold out here, and he's acting really sluggish. Either he hasn't had any coffee today, or the cold's slowing him down. And something tells me he doesn't like coffee."

He glanced back over his shoulder. "Hey, Leaf! Come and say hi! Don't be so shy."

Leaf slowly walked over, brushing snow out of her mint green coat. "Um…" she said quietly. "Hello?"

Red shook his head. "Anyway, you got here just in time. We just finished the igloos. Why don't you drop your stuff inside and come into the house?"

XXX

Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched, working the kinks out of her wings. It had stayed surprisingly warm inside the igloo, even during the night.

They'd spent most of the previous day touring the farm, and being guided through the process that turned tree sap into maple syrup. It was vaguely interesting…almost interesting enough to make her forget what she was missing out on.

She glanced around, noting that she was alone. _I wonder how much I missed them by?_

Dash shrugged and walked toward the entrance. She poked her head out…and looked right into Red's blue eyes. "Morning," he said.

"Gah!" Dash yelped, falling back into the igloo.

Red poked his head through the hole. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I startle you? I just came to check on you."

Dash carefully drew together what little dignity she had left. "Yeah, well…how much did I sleep in?"

"Well, you missed breakfast," Red said. "I put a bit aside for you, though. I actually would've woken you up earlier, but…well, you looked like you needed the sleep. I know I get in a bad mood when I haven't slept for a while…"

The pegasus narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Red chuckled. "Hey, when I offered you a drink yesterday, you just about bit my head off. If that's your normal temperament, I'd hate to see you in a bad mood."

The red head withdrew. "Anyway, if you're hungry, it'll have to wait a little while. We've got to cart the sap in first. It usually takes a few hours, but with an extra six…wait, the dragon. With an extra seven sets of hooves, it'll probably go a bit faster."

Dash grimaced. "All right. Let's get this over with."

She spread her wings and flew out of the igloo, squinting against the sun. Red was just pulling an odd-looking hat over his head. "What the hay is that?" she asked.

"It's called a toque," Red said. "Don't ask me why. Not the prettiest thing, I know, but it keeps you warm. I've got a spare if you want it."

Dash wrinkled her nose. "I'll pass."

Red shrugged. "Have it your way. Come on. Your friends have already started."

Dash yawned, shivering against her will. The sun really didn't do much to warm the air. "Remind me what we're doing?"

"We're collecting sap from the maple trees around here," Red said, trudging through the snow. "We stick a spigot in the trunk, and the sap runs out into buckets like those ones. We take the buckets off, pour them into bigger buckets, then take it back to the house to boil down into syrup. Make sense?"

"A bit tedious," Dash muttered, glancing around. Just about every tree she saw had a silver bucket hanging off it. Some of the larger ones had two or even three. "How long did you say this was going to take?"

"With all of us working…an hour, maybe two."

The pegasus' stomach chose that exact moment to remind her that it was empty, and growled loudly. Red glanced over. "Here," he muttered, pulling a small bag out of one of his jacket pockets. "Some trail mix. It should hold you over until we're done."

For a moment, she didn't know what to say. "Thanks," she finally said, accepting the snack and pouring the contents of the bag down her throat.

"Don't thank me," Red chuckled. "Thank my mom. She's the one who gave me that stuff."

"That must be nice," Dash muttered, a shard of ice piercing her heart.

The red earth pony quickly put two and two together. "I'm sorry," he said. "It must've been painful. How old were you?"

"They're not dead," she snapped. "I wish they were, sometimes. They just dumped me at flight school when I was seven, and I haven't heard a word from them since."

She turned away, tears stinging her vision. "I just…don't want to talk about it."

Red nodded. "All right. You don't have to. I'll go ahead. You come along when you're ready."

Dash gritted her teeth. "I'm ready now. Let's go."

The earth pony walked into a small shed and emerged with a pair of yokes and several large buckets. "Hang this off your back," he instructed, passing her one of the yokes. "Makes the buckets easier to carry."

He glanced around once the yokes were settled on their backs. "Well, this seems like a good place to start. I'll bet your friends have each got their own little sections."

Dash frowned, and unhooked a bucket from the nearest tree. "Is this some act to get us alone together?" she mumbled around the handle.

"What gave you that idea?" Red asked, pouring a bucket of sap into the larger one hooked to the yoke. Dash stared quizzically at several chunks of ice floating in the clear sap. "Pour it all in," he said, placing the empty bucket back onto the tree. "Ice and all. It gets boiled down anyway."

The pegasus shrugged and tipped the contents of the bucket into the one on her back. "How does that turn into syrup? Looks like water to me."

Red chuckled, and fished a piece of ice out of his bucket. "Here," he said, balancing it on a hoof and holding it out. "Sweetest ice you'll ever taste."

Dash eyed the chunk of ice skeptically for a moment. The she shrugged, took it and flipped it into her mouth. He was right. It was faintly sweet.

"Now, picture that being boiled down about eighty to one. That's how you make syrup from this."

"Right," Dash said, shivering. Now she wished she'd accepted the tooke, or whatever it was called. But she couldn't back off now. Her stubborn pride prevented any chance of that.

After twenty minutes or so, their buckets were full of sap. Dash hooked the last sap bucket back onto the tree, and started to lumber back the way they had come. "That didn't take so long," she panted. She'd never admit it, but the sap buckets were almost too heavy for her.

"Don't relax yet," Red chuckled, appearing unaffected by the load. "We've still got a ways to go."

Rainbow Dash groaned, and in the moment her concentration was directed elsewhere, her hoof struck a root at an awkward angle, and she skidded to the side. She quickly flared out her wings to steady herself, but the movement only succeeded in knocking the yoke off her back.

Red lunged forward to catch it, but forced himself to stop when his own yoke tipped alarmingly. And so both could only watch helplessly as the buckets tipped onto the ground, spilling nearly fifty litres of sap.

Dash flattened her ears, acutely aware that she'd screwed up royally. "Crap. I'm so  
>sorry-"<p>

Red cut her off with an upraised hoof. "Nothing that can be done. I'll cart mine back to the house. You pick those back up and refill them."

The pegasus stifled a groan and bent to pick up the fallen yoke. Great. After all that, now she had to do it again. _I bet Twilight didn't spill anything. She's probably carrying ten at once with that fancy unicorn magic._

She held on to her bitter mood as she wandered among the sap buckets, until both buckets weighed heavily on her shoulders. This time, on her way back, she made sure to avoid the root.

It took a little while to make it back to the house, and by the time it was finally visible, her shoulders were throbbing painfully. "There," she grunted, setting the buckets down beside the others. "Let nopony say Rainbow Dash didn't help."

A clank drew her attention to her right, where no less than fifteen buckets of sap were floating down beside the others, glowing with a violet aura. Dash glanced sourly at the lavender unicorn responsible. "Always have to show off, don't you?"

"Says the pony who does loops and barrel rolls at every opportunity," Twilight shot back, smiling. And, of course, she was sporting one of those stupid toque things. "I admit, I'm disappointed not to be in the tropics, but this place definitely grows on you. Once you get over the cold, it's quite beautiful."

"Yeah," Dash grunted. "Who knew?"

"You really need to lighten up, Rainbow," Twilight admonished. "Just take what you can get. We're going to be here for a few days, and being grumpy isn't going to solve anything."

"Maybe not, but it sure as hay is satisfying," Dash spat, flying off to grab another pair of buckets.

Luckily, she managed to finish collecting sap without incident, and, better yet, without running into Red again. She still wasn't sure she could face him after messing up that badly.

She let out a relieved sigh as she let what was surely the last round of buckets slide off her shoulders and onto the ground. Sugar Maple and Sap were already hauling them over to a large open-topped tank of some kind, while Leaf and Maple Bud built a fire underneath. She presumed the tank was to boil the sap down.

Sap glanced up from the tank and smiled. "About time. Everypony else has already finished. They're all inside, having lunch. Go join them, eh?"

Dash nodded and reluctantly walked into the house. To her horror, Red was there at the door to greet her. "Hey, you made it! I was wondering how long it would take you."

Intentional or not, the remark stung her pride. "I swear, if this is about be dropping the-"

"Don't worry about it," Red said. "Believe me, it happens all the time. Besides, when you think about it, you lost us…maybe three cups of syrup? Not a whole lot."

Dash blinked. "So…"

"I might have been a little short back there, but that was because I couldn't stop it from happening."

Dash smiled ruefully. "All right. What's for lunch?"

"Mostly silage. Nothing fancy. That unicorn Rarity seemed a little miffed, but what can you do? You can't please everyone."

Rainbow Dash felt herself relax slightly. She was still far from happy, but she had just become marginally more comfortable with the situation.

XXX

Fluttershy glanced nervously down the snow-covered hill, hoof placed on a wooden toboggan. "It's so…steep," she whispered.

"C'mon, sugarcube! We don't got all day! Jus' push off and hold on!"

"Are…are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Oh for heaven's sake," Rarity said. "We haven't got all day. Go on!" She prodded the pegasus with her magic.

Fluttershy swallowed. "Okay…here goes…" She placed her other hooves on the sled and winced.

After a few tense moments, Twilight coughed awkwardly. "You're supposed to push off."

"Oh," Fluttershy said, blushing. "Right."

She nervously dug a hoof into the snow and pushed the sled forward. A moment later, gravity took hold, and the toboggan began accelerating down the hill. Fluttershy whimpered in terror and hunkered down…and then she hit the real slope.

The pegasus screamed in terror as the sled rocketed down the hill, leaving a trail of dislodged powder in its wake. The screaming continued until the sled finally stopped at the bottom.

"Way to go, Fluttershy!" Twilight cheered. The others followed suit as the yellow pegasus flew back up to the top of the hill, dragging the sled by a rope held in her mouth.

She landed in front of her friends, shaking with nervous excitement. "Did you see that?" she said. "I was going so fast! And I actually hung on!"

Dash watched the scene from a small cloud she'd dragged over with bored disinterest. "The hay is wrong with them?" she muttered, shifting. The cloud seemed to be intent on digging into her back in all the wrong spots. "It's already cold enough. You're not catching me screwing around in the snow."

"C'mon, Rainbow Dash! The hill's calling you!"

The pegasus groaned and poked her head over the edge of the cloud. "For the last time, Pinkie Pie, no! Who wants to hurl themselves down a hill anyway?"

"But it's so much fun!"

"That's not fun," Dash said. "It's attempted suicide! Now leave me alone and let me sleep."

Pinkie looked over to Twilight. "Well, I didn't expect Rainbow to be the party-pooper."

Twilight sighed. "She's just a little wound up, Pinkie. She'll come around eventually."

Red Maple stopped beside her, dropping his rope. "She still up there?"

Twilight sighed. "Uh-huh. I don't think we're getting her own anytime soon."

Red sighed. "I don't know what's with her. She strikes me as the adventurous type. But she's been nothing but uptight this entire time."

Twilight shrugged. "Give her some time."

"It's been three days," Red protested. "I mean, even Rarity's stooped to 'frolicking in the snow like a foal'. This is getting ridiculous."

The unicorn shook her head. "On thing you have to know about her is that she's incredibly stubborn. More so than Applejack, I think. And those two would probably just have a contest to prove it."

Red grunted. "I see your point. But that's still no excuse."

He raised his voice. "Hey, Rainbow! Don't you want to try out the ramp?" He gestured to a snow ramp at the left side of the hill. The hill itself had been divided into lanes, depending on what the ponies were willing to face. One was straight, one curved back and forth, and the other two led to a large ramp about halfway down.

"I'm good," came the reply.

"Bet you can't make it," Red sneered. "You scared, or something?"

Twilight frowned. "Uh…I don't think that's the best way to-"

"Is that a challenge?" Rainbow spat, hovering above the cloud.

"No," Red replied innocently. "I'd only challenge you if I thought you'd have a chance."

"That's it," Dash yelled, diving from the cloud and landing hard on the ground. "Give me one of those. I'll show you how to take a jump."

Red fought to hide a smile as he passed her his toboggan. "Now, when you hit the jump, pull the front up, and-"

"I don't need your advice," Dash snarled, slamming the sled down in the requisite lane. "Let's go!"

Twilight gaped as she pushed the sled down the hill. "I don't believe it," she muttered.

"Stubborn people have pride too," Red said smugly, watching the pegasus streak toward the ramp. "All you have to do is appeal to it."

Dash hit the ramp dead on, and landed without any difficulty. "What'd I tell you?" she shouted back over her shoulder. "No problems!" The sled curved over to the side with the shift in weight, arcing off its intended path.

Red paled. "Dash! Watch the tree!"

The pegasus looked forward, and realized that she was about half a second from slamming straight into an unyielding oak. "Oh…"

"Dammit," Red cursed, galloping down the hill. _I swear, if she hurt herself…_

He reached the tree just as the pegasus was getting back to her hooves, shaking stars from her head. "You okay?"

"That. Was. Awesome!" Dash yelled, punching the air. "Why didn't you tell me it would be this cool?"

_Yeah. She's okay. _"Uh…I think Pinkie was already doing that."

Dash waved a hoof. "Pfft. Details. That was then. This is now. And now, I want to do that again!"

Red shook his head in disbelief as she shot back up the hill. "Unbelievable," he muttered. The pegasus' mood seemed to change almost as fast as the nutty pink one. Well…maybe that was an exaggeration.

He glanced up the hill, where Dash was already readying herself for another run, much to the pleasant surprise of her friends. Her earlier bad mood seemed completely forgotten, washed away by adrenaline. He tapped his chin thoughtfully as she streaked back down the hill, hooting with joy. He'd always been good at reading ponies. But this one was odd. No matter how he tried, he couldn't read her.

And the more she seemed to resist, the more curious he got.

XXX

Twilight gaped at the night sky. That night was the first cloudless night since she'd arrived.

"I can see so much," she whispered.

Sugar Maple nodded, nudging another stick into the fire. "There's just something about the sky here. Maybe it's because we're farther north, but it's so much clearer here."

Dash tuned them out, dozing off in the heat of the fire. The day's sledding had left her fairly drained of energy, every muscle aching. But it was a good ache; the kind you get after a good flight routine.

Even some of the chill seemed to have gone out of the air. _Am I…actually in a good mood now?_

After a moment, she realized she was. The blue funk of the last few days had vanished entirely, leaving her feeling…almost relaxed.

After being wound up for that long, it was a nice feeling.

_I could actually grow to like it here, _she thought, lying back in the snow and looking into the stars.

The crunching of snow beside her jerked her from her reverie, and she looked up into an uncharacteristically stern red face."Hey, Red," she said weakly. "What's up?"

He jerked his head, indicating a spot a ways from the fire. "Over there. We need to talk."

Dash nervously got to her hooves. "Can we talk about it here?"

"No," Red growled. "I'd rather do this in privacy."

The cyan pegasus reluctantly followed him out of the warm circle, responding to Fluttershy's quizzical stare with an apathetic shrug.

"What d'you need?" Dash asked, once they had stopped.

"An explanation," Red replied, roughly clearing a patch of snow for them to sit on. "Yes, I can understand why you were angry at first. But you didn't even make an effort to be personable! You've been treating me like dirt this entire time, when I did nothing wrong, and you know what? I'm sick of it."

The pegasus groaned. "Do we really need to have this conversation?"

"Yeah. I think we do. You're a nice pony at heart. A little rough around the edges, I admit, but I know you're not usually like this."

"And who are you to guess that?" Dash snapped, feeling her previous stress begin to return. "Don't you go speaking for me."

"And now you're doing it again," Red sighed. "Lashing out at everypony trying to help."

"I don't need help," she growled, pacing around the clearing. "I can take care of myself."

Red nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. You had to, didn't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You mentioned earlier that your parents just left you at flight school. You haven't seen them since."

Dash gritted her teeth. "What does that have to do with-"

"Considering how you're reacting, that's a touchy subject for you," Red continued.

"How'd you guess?" Dash snarled, sarcasm dripping off her words.

"And the only thing I can conclude is that something there is responsible for your mood here."

The pegasus looked away, involuntarily spreading her wings for flight. But this wasn't something she could fly away from. Not this time. "I said before that I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, you know what?" Red snapped, his patience well and truly gone. "Sometimes it's not that easy."

"Don't you make decisions for me," Dash snarled. "I make my own!"

Red's face brightened with realization. "So that's it," he breathed.

"That's what?" Dash snapped, a hair away from punching the stallion in the face.

"You're not in control," he said, smiling.

The pegasus was struck dumb. She wanted to fly, but her wings seemed plastered to her sides. She wanted to run, but it was as if her hooves had suddenly frozen to the ground.

And it was all because he was right. She wasn't in control. There was nothing she, or any of them could do to fix the situation. She was helpless.

And instead of simply accepting it and moving on, she'd spent the entire time raging back at the injustice of it all. And in the process, made a complete ass of herself.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "You're right. I'm not in control, and…I hate it."

Red nodded. It seemed his job was done. "You don't have to keep talking, if you don't want to."

"No. I…really needed to say this. I've needed to say it for a while."

She took a deep breath. "Before I was shipped to flight school, almost every decision in my life as made by somepony else. Even at flight school, I didn't have any freedom. That's one of the reasons I dropped out, actually. I realized I could make my own decisions. And I promised myself that I'd never let anypony else tell me how to live, or what to do."

A series of staccato cracking sounds drew their attention skyward. A delicate streamer of green was tracing its way through the heavens. A moment later, the entire sky erupted in a chorus of reds, greens and golds.

"The Northern Lights," Red said quietly. "You really lucked out. We don't usually see them this far south."

Dash couldn't even respond. She was deaf even to the cries of wonder from the campfire. It was as if her entire world had become focused on those lights, flitting and darting across the sky.

Before she even knew it, she was spreading her wings and bunching her muscles for takeoff, ready to soar into the heavens and fly with the lights.

A gentle touch on her flank drew her back to reality. "I heard that pegasi are strongly affected," Red observed. "Your friend Fluttershy's probably feeling the same way."

"They're…" Dash whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the sky.

She didn't even need to finish her sentence. Red knew what she meant. It was no coincidence that the region's folklore had entire legends dedicated to the aurora.

"See, look at it this way," he said. "If somepony hadn't messed up, you never would have seen this."

Dash tore her eyes from the heavens and smiled at him. "And you know what? I never would've met you."

Red cleared his throat awkwardly and looked back up. "They…they say that the aurora is the spirits of the dead, looking down on the world. You're not supposed to whistle or sing, or they'll come take you away."

"Yeah right," Dash muttered, before pursing her lips and whistling a high, clear tone. She waited a long moment, then grinned at him. "See? Nothing."

Red chuckled. "Well…it is a legend, after all."

_I need to make things right,_ she thought to herself. _He…he didn't deserve what I did. None of them did. _

"Red?" she said tentatively, steeling herself for what she was about to say. It wasn't something she was used to saying, or even deigned to say very often.

"I'm sorry. Just…for everything. I've been a complete jerk."

Red stared back at her for a long moment, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Looks like you just looked at it a different way."

Dash smiled back. "You know what? I think I did."

No more words were necessary. The two settled back and watched the lights in the heavens dance and frolic across the sky.

XXX

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_You're probably expecting me to be pretty mad about what happened. You know, being sent to the wrong place and everything. And I was, at first. But...then I just realized that a bad situation is just as bad as you make it. Usually…it's not even that bad at all. It's just a different set of opportunities._

"Dash! You coming? We don't want to miss the plane!"

"Just a minute!" the pegasus mumbled around the quill. "I'll be right out, Twilight!"

She waited until the hoofsteps outside faded. Then she turned back to the letter.

_To be honest, when I got here, I didn't know what to expect. Well…I guess I did. I expected cold, igloos and polar bears. And…funnily enough, I got everything except the bears. _

She stood and carefully tucked the letter into her bag, hoping to get Spike to send it on the plane, or something. A sudden burst of warm temperatures had hit the farm, raising the temperature all the way above zero. The walls of the igloos out back were already starting to honeycomb, as they began to melt under the sun. They'd remain standing for a little while, no question about that, but they still didn't look quite right.

On the other hand, the Maples were ecstatic. Warmer temperatures meant the sap flowed better. Sap had already predicted that they'd break their quota a month ahead of schedule, providing the weather held.

_I remember in the Hearth's Warming play, we were talking about a painful, bone-chilling blizzard. I expected something like that. But I got a different sort of cold. It was fresher, like what it feels like a few thousand feet up. Just a better kind of cold._

_I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this, am I? Didn't think so. I'm actually not really sure what I'm trying to say either._

Red was there to greet her as she emerged from the igloo. He indicated the piece of parchment sticking out of her saddlebag. "A letter?"

Rainbow chuckled. "Down, boy. It's not for you."

"I never said it was," he replied.

The pegasus smiled, and walked with him back toward the carriage, this time lacking Twilight's magical aura. Seemed she'd finally learned her lesson.

_I guess if I'm trying to say anything, it's that you can't judge a place just from what you've heard. You have to see it, and feel it to be able to do that. But even when you're convinced the place you're visiting is going to suck…it'll surprise you._

_You just have to let yourself see it._

After a short ride, they arrived at the runway office, and began saying awkward goodbyes. Rarity was first, and thanked them in her own particular manner: by giving them the prize gems from a small diamond vein she'd discovered. If her estimations were accurate, they would likely be enough to add almost a dozen hectares of trees to the Maples' farm.

After the family had gotten over their shock, the others had expressed their thanks in more conventional manners. After a little while, Red had wandered off to the side, jerking his head for Dash to follow.

When she managed to slip away, she found him collecting stones and stacking them to form a rough bipedal shape. He looked up as she approached, depositing the last stone on top. "I was wondering how long you were going to take."

Dash cocked her head. "I took…what, two minutes?"

"I'm kidding," Red said.

Both remained silent for a moment. "What were you building?" Dash finally asked.

Red glanced at the pile of stones. "It's called an inuksuk. You see them all the time farther north. They're used to mark routes, caches…stuff like that."

"So, what's this one marking?"

The earth pony chuckled. "Nothing. They're just fun to build sometimes."

Another awkward silence followed. "I…I guess this is goodbye," Dash finally said.

"Yeah," Red replied, looking away. "It was…nice."

"Nice?" Dash scoffed. "That's all you have to say about meeting the awesomest-"

"That's not a word…"

"Whatever. The awesomest pegasus in Equestria?"

Red chuckled. "Would you be happier if I said it was awesome?"

The pegasus shrugged. "I guess it won't get any better than that."

Their chuckled soon died off. "If you ever find yourself in the area…" Red said quietly.

"Relax," Dash said. "I know where to find you guys."

"Who am I kidding?" Red muttered. "I'm probably not going to see you again."

Without warning, Dash flitted in and kissed him on the cheek. "I wouldn't count on it," she whispered. _Now, let's see if a red pony can blush._

It turned out they could. And quite spectacularly, at that.

_I don't regret being sent here, even if it was an accident. If anything, I hope you make mistakes like that more often. So…I guess you could say I learned a few lessons. _

_But most importantly, even with all the stereotypes…they're still just ponies. It doesn't matter what we think of them, or what they think of us. We've got more in common than either of us realize._

_The awesomest pegasus in Equestria,_

_Rainbow Dash_

She snuck a glance out the window as the plane's engines roared to life, powered by unicorn magic. It had started snowing again, and the propellers were kicking up enough flakes to almost completely obscure her vision.

But she could still see something red, standing out against the white. Just watching her go.

She settled back into her seat, pulling a toque tighter over her head. It was actually pretty comfortable, once you got used to it.

The plane raced down the runway and took to the air, taking the six friends back home.

"Dash," Twilight whispered, once they were in the air. "Look out the window."

She glanced out, straight into the writhing colours of the aurora. A content smile spread across her face. She was flying through it after all.

_Fin_


End file.
